It Works
by tiramisuspice
Summary: No one got it. No one understood why the two were a couple.


**Word vomit Riley and The Rebel story because I really wish Riley had a bad boy love interest with tattoos and a motorcycle who her dad would freak out over because he was so dangerous yet Riley loves him for who he is and changes him for the better while he also shows her how to step out of her comfort zone every once in a while. It would be the perfect romance for Riley's inherent goodness and definitely totally hot too! LOL it doesn't even have to be Brandon. I just want Riley to date some rebellious person or anarchist.  
**

 **Rated K+ for Keeping Relationships Alive**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, or crack ships would be rampant all over the show.**

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No one got it.

No one understood why the two were a couple.

Aside from the obvious fact that Riley was the poster girl for Good Girl Daily and The Rebel was… well, _The Rebel_ , there were significant differences between the two of them that made their coupling even weirder and harder to understand.

Riley was a cute cheerleader, bright and bubbly and peppy with wide, expressive doe eyes and a positive, optimistic outlook on life that one might even call naïve. She made every room brighter just by being in it and lifted spirits with her bright eyed, goofy smiles.

The Rebel was a perpetually brooding, rugged, kind of a jerk with closed off, scowling eyes and a demeanor that made everyone naturally want to avoid him. He darkened rooms and moods and scared the crap out of people with just a raised brow.

But there they were, holding hands as they walked down the hall, Riley chattering excitedly and giggling beside him while he had no expression on his face, seemingly not paying attention to her at all.

No one understood what they saw in each other. Why they seemed to work so well when they looked so wrong for each other.

What was it about him that attracted Riley?

What was it about her that attracted The Rebel?

As far as the people at school knew, there was absolutely nothing in them that could possibly make such a relationship work when they were such opposites. And when they would watch Riley and her Rebel sitting under a tree as Riley rambled and The Rebel smoked, happy in their own little world, the people of school would grow even more confused.

Not to mention the detrimental effect their relationship had on their reputations.

Riley's reputation was most definitely being damaged by him. People wondered if she was even a virgin anymore. They wondered if she frequented gangs. They wondered if she was involved in something dirty and against the law. They wondered if she was actually as clean cut as she behaved every day.

And The Rebel's reputation was most definitely damaged by her. People wondered if he was actually as much of a delinquent as he looked. They wanted to fight him, challenge him to violent rows because they didn't believe he was a tough as he looked. They thought he had gone soft. They wondered if his dangerous demeanor was a façade.

The rumours got to them once.

Riley distanced herself from The Rebel to the point that people wondered where the ball of sunshine and joy next to him had gone. The Rebel distanced himself from Riley to the point that people wondered where the dark cloud of gloom lingering near her had gone.

They broke up.

And it made them miserable.

Riley was overly and exaggeratedly sparkly and bubbly, her smiles looking somewhat fake at times but a loneliness in her gaze that was so uncharacteristic of the usually spirited girl.

The Rebel seemed to be more dangerous than ever before, snapping at the slightest thing and getting into fights with people for no reason other than someone looking at him wrong.

It got to the point where the student body realized that their commentary had broken up a couple that truly cared about each other.

So they convinced Riley to go check on The Rebel in the nurse's office after a particularly bad fight before school. And they waited with baited breath, wondering if the strange, but oddly earnest relationship would recommence.

By the end of the day, Riley and The Rebel were once again a couple, Riley chattering excitedly beside him as he seemingly paid no attention to her at all.

But their hands were clasped, the fingers of their hands laced together as they walked down the hall and everything felt right in the world.

And the student body finally started to realize that maybe it wasn't that Riley was a ball of joy and sunshine standing next to darkness. Or that maybe it wasn't that The Rebel was a dangerous predator standing next to a doe eyed Bambi.

Maybe they were two sides of a strange coin. Two parts of a whole.

They balanced each other. They were a push and a pull, tamping down the most extremes of their personalities while allowing each other to see a different side of the world.

And as strange as it was to see the hardened, delinquent, tattooed, motorcycle riding Rebel with the spirited, sweet and caring, flowery perfume wearing Riley? And as strange as it was to see the bubbly, goofy and clumsy, rule following Riley with the dangerous, fight starting, frequent suspension getting Rebel?

It worked.

They worked.

And the school finally got it.

They finally understood why Riley and The Rebel were a couple.


End file.
